Boys basketball coaches select 4 to first team with unanimous selections

Published 6:00 pm, Saturday, March 3, 2001

They averaged over 20 points a game during the recently completed District 22-5A boys basketball race and for that reason plus a few more, the district coaches honored the four with unanimous all-district selections.

The quartet features South Houston's Kennis Green, Sam Rayburn's Scott Gernander, Humble's Bennie Anderson and Kingwood's Chad Maclies, who was named 22-5A's Most Valuable Player.

Maclies averaged 15.4 points and scored over 150 points while also pulling down 8.7 rebounds a game for the 9-1 champion Mustangs.

By ROBERT AVERY

Green earned top scoring honors in 22-5A, the third time in the last four years that a South Houston player has topped the district in points scored.

Green scored more points during this past season's 10-game race than he did in last year's 12-game schedule when he led District 23-5A with 208 points.

In earning back-to-back first team all-district laurels, Green becomes only the third Trojan player in the last 10 years to earn the honor two straight years. He joins Demetris Dubose and Deon Tucker as the others.

But what a job Trojan coach Bob Emmerson faces now in the offseason. How do you replace a youngster who had such a huge impact on one's program in more ways than one?

Gernander became the first Sam Rayburn player in four years to reach the 200-point plateau in district play. But his 231 points was the most by a Texan player since the 1993-94 season.

However, Gernander's 23.1 scoring average not only helped give the Texans the highest-ranked offensive average among the 22-5A clubs, his average was the best in over a decade and no doubt ranks as one of the best ever in the program's history.

If that wasn't enough, Gernander, an honorable mention selection last winter in 23-5A, nearly averaged in double figures on the boards with a 9.3 rebounding average and led the district in assists with a 5.1 average.

Anderson led Humble's attack, averaging a healthy 16.4 points that contributed greatly to the Wildcats canning the third and final state playoff berth.

Four other athletes were also named to first team and they're a pretty salty group too.

That contingent featured the Dobie pair of Frances Walker and Thadd Fifer, who sparked the Longhorns to a third consecutive state playoff berth.

It's the first time in two seasons that two Longhorns were voted to first team. Walker averaged 11.6 points for the 8-2 Longhorns and Fifer 10.5. Fifer earned second-team laurels in 2000.

Kingwood's Glenn Gartner, who averaged 11.6 points on the season and Humble's Kevin Smith, who tallied 16.1 points a game, round out the first team picks.

The second team all-district picks feature the Dobie talents of juniors Remi Yusef and Roderick Lee, the Pasadena duo of Ben Rowe and Cris Zuazo, South Houston sophomore Robert Beverley, Sam Rayburn's Austen Baker, Humble's Chris Young and Kingwood's Will Whittington.

Yusef averaged 11.5 points, which was the highest average for the Longhorns. Lee was kind of the unsung hero for Dobie. He could consistently be counted on to get his eight to 10 points a game.

Zuazo is a classic case of a youngster making the most of his one and only true season on the varsity. Zuazo averaged 13.9 points for an offense that ranked last in 22-5A and nabbed seven boards a game.

Rowe, a first team all-district recipient last season, was hampered by a late-season hand injury, but still secured 10.1 points for the Eagles.

Still, the absence of an Eagle player on first team represents the first time since the 1994-95 season that Pasadena's failed to put a player on first team.

Baker used his outside shooting abilities to come up with his second-team selection. He ranked second behind Gernander in 3-point goals. But with Gernander to become a graduation loss, Baker's role on the team will soon increase.

The honorable mention group from the local camps features Sam Rayburn's Ryan Moon, Ray Grambow, Sergio Salazar and Wayne McGrew. From Dobie the coaches named Justin Gissendanner, Kurt Rankin and Daniel Cunningham.

Pasadena is represented by Johnny Chapa and Tjarvis Tabb. The group of Jacob Cauthen, Clif Lyles, Brian Haddad and David Bryant represent South Houston.